Vehicle tracking techniques

ABSTRACT

A vehicle monitoring system, includes a vehicle database, which includes information associated with a plurality of vehicles. The vehicle monitoring system also includes a sensor database, which includes information captured by a sensor of an observing vehicle, and one or more processors. The one or more processors may generate a request to determine information associated with a target vehicle and to transmit the request to the sensor in response to determining that the information captured by the sensor does not include the information associated with the target vehicle. The sensor captures the information associated with the target vehicle based at least in part on the request. The one or more processors may also receive and store the information associated with the target vehicle from the sensor. Further, the one or more processors may output the information associated with the target vehicle to a computing device.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/247,224, titled “Vehicle Tracking Techniques,” which was filed onJan. 14, 2019, which claims priority from and the benefit of U.S.Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/617,432, titled “VehicleTracking Techniques,” which was filed on Jan. 15, 2018, the entirety ofwhich is incorporated by reference into the present disclosure.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates generally to systems and methods formonitoring and/or tracking a vehicle (e.g., an automotive vehicle). Morespecifically, the present disclosure relates to systems and methods todetermine a behavior, location, and/or characteristic associated withthe vehicle via sensors of additional vehicles near the vehicle.

This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects ofart that may be related to various aspects of the present disclosure,which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed tohelp provide the reader with background information to facilitate abetter understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure.Accordingly, it is understood that these statements are to be read inthis light, and not as admissions of prior art.

Automotive vehicles, such as motorcycles, buses, autonomous cars, and/orthe like may include sensors capable of providing a wide array ofinformation related to the vehicle and its surroundings to a driver ofthe vehicle and/or to other recipients. For example, a vehicle mayinclude a navigation system that may provide traffic and/or routeinformation to a driver controlling the vehicle. The navigation systemmay further provide a location of the vehicle to, for example, an ownerof the vehicle when the vehicle is lost and/or missing. However, somevehicles (e.g., other vehicles within a sensor detection proximity tothe vehicle) lack suitable sensors to sufficiently provide information(e.g., a location) related to themselves to a driver and/or to otherrecipients.

SUMMARY

A summary of certain embodiments disclosed herein is set forth below. Itshould be understood that these aspects are presented merely to providethe reader with a brief summary of these certain embodiments and thatthese aspects are not intended to limit the scope of this disclosure.Indeed, this disclosure may encompass a variety of aspects that may notbe set forth below.

In one embodiment, a vehicle monitoring system includes a vehicledatabase, which includes information associated with a plurality ofvehicles. Additionally, the vehicle monitoring system includes a sensordatabase, which may include information captured by a sensor of anobserving vehicle. The vehicle monitoring system also includes one ormore processors, which may be configured to generate a request tocapture information associated with a target vehicle. The one or moreprocessors are also configured to transmit the request to the sensor ofthe observing vehicle in response to determining that the informationcaptured by the sensor of the observing vehicle does not comprise theinformation associated with the target vehicle. The sensor of theobserving vehicle is configured to capture the information associatedwith the target vehicle based at least in part on the request. Further,the one or more processors are configured to receive the informationassociated with the target vehicle from the sensor of the observingvehicle and to store the information associated with the target vehiclein the vehicle database. The one or more processors are also configuredto output the information associated with the target vehicle to acomputing device.

In another embodiment, a method involves receiving, at one or moreprocessors of a vehicle monitoring system, a request for informationassociated with a target vehicle from a first computing device. Themethod also involves transmitting, using the one or more processors ofthe vehicle monitoring system, the request to an observing vehicle. Asensor of the observing vehicle may be configured to capture theinformation associated with the target vehicle based at least in part onthe request. Further, the method involves receiving, at the one or moreprocessors of the vehicle monitoring system, the information associatedwith the target vehicle from the sensor of the observing vehicle andstoring, using the one or more processors of the vehicle monitoringsystem, the information associated with the target vehicle in a vehicledatabase, which includes information associated with a plurality ofvehicles. The method also involves outputting, using the one or moreprocessors of the vehicle monitoring system, the information associatedwith the target vehicle to a second computing device.

In another embodiment, a vehicle monitoring system includes a vehicledatabase, which includes a first profile having first informationassociated with a first vehicle and a second profile having secondinformation associated with a second vehicle. The vehicle monitoringsystem also includes one or more processors configured to generate arequest to capture third information associated with the first vehicledifferent from the first information associated with the first vehicle.The one or more processors are also configured to transmit the requestto a sensor of an observing vehicle. The sensor of the observing vehicleis configured to capture the third information associated with the firstvehicle based at least in part on the request. Moreover, the one or moreprocessors are configured to receive the third information associatedwith the first vehicle from the sensor of the observing vehicle.Further, the one or more processors are configured to store the thirdinformation associated with the first vehicle in the vehicle database.Storing the third information associated with the first vehicle mayinvolve updating the first profile based at least in part on the thirdinformation associated with the first vehicle. The one or moreprocessors are also configured to output the third informationassociated with the first vehicle to a computing device.

Various refinements of the features noted above may exist in relation tovarious aspects of the present disclosure. Further features may also beincorporated in these various aspects as well. These refinements andadditional features may exist individually or in any combination. Forinstance, various features discussed below in relation to one or more ofthe illustrated embodiments may be incorporated into any of theabove-described aspects of the present disclosure alone or in anycombination. The brief summary presented above is intended only tofamiliarize the reader with certain aspects and contexts of embodimentsof the present disclosure without limitation to the claimed subjectmatter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the presentdisclosure will become better understood when the following detaileddescription is read with reference to the accompanying drawings in whichlike characters represent like parts throughout the drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a vehicle monitoring system, inaccordance with embodiments described herein;

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of the vehicle tracking system thatmay be part of the vehicle monitoring system of FIG. 1, in accordancewith embodiments described herein; and

FIG. 3 illustrates a flow chart of a method for determining a behavior,location, and/or characteristic associated with a target vehicle via thevehicle monitoring system of FIG. 1, in accordance with embodimentsdescribed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

One or more specific embodiments will be described below. In an effortto provide a concise description of these embodiments, not all featuresof an actual implementation are described in the specification. Itshould be appreciated that in the development of any such actualimplementation, as in any engineering or design project, numerousimplementation-specific decisions must be made to achieve thedevelopers' specific goals, such as compliance with system-related andbusiness-related constraints, which may vary from one implementation toanother. Moreover, it should be appreciated that such a developmenteffort might be complex and time consuming, but would nevertheless be aroutine undertaking of design, fabrication, and manufacture for those ofordinary skill having the benefit of this disclosure.

The present disclosure relates generally to improved systems and methodsfor obtaining information related to a vehicle (e.g., an automotivevehicle). More specifically, present embodiments are directed to loggingand determining a behavior, location, description, and/or the likeassociated with the vehicle using sensors of additional vehicles. Insome embodiments, a vehicle tracking system may interface with one ormore databases that store information related to a number of vehicles.The vehicle tracking system may further interface with one or moredatabases that store information related to a number of drivers (e.g.,vehicle operators). Further, the vehicle tracking system may interfacewith one or more databases that store information related to a number ofsensors, such as speedometers, cameras, global positioning systems(GPSs), and/or the like, that may be configured to capture informationrelated to a vehicle. That is, the vehicle tracking system and/or theone or more databases that store information related to the number ofsensors may further interface with the number of sensors. To that end,the vehicle tracking system may populate any of its one or moredatabases that store information related to the number of vehicles, thenumber of drivers, or the number of sensors based on the informationcaptured by the number of sensors. Accordingly, information related to avehicle may be determined from the vehicle tracking system.

In some embodiments, the vehicle tracking system may receive a requestfor information related to a target vehicle, may retrieve informationrelated to the target vehicle, and may output the retrieved informationrelated to the target vehicle to, for example, a computing device.Further, the vehicle tracking system may retrieve and output informationrelated to the vehicle regardless of whether the target vehicle includessuitable sensors to sufficiently provide the requested information. Thatis, for example, the vehicle tracking system may rely on sensorsexternal to a target vehicle, such as sensors included in an additionalvehicle (e.g., an observing vehicle), to retrieve information related tothe target vehicle. For example, to determine the location of a targetvehicle that lacks a GPS, the vehicle tracking system may communicatewith one or more sensors, such as a camera, a GPA, and/or the like, inan observing vehicle that is proximate to the target vehicle.Additionally, the vehicle tracking system may use information capturedby sensors in vehicles uninvolved in, but present at the scene of avehicle accident (e.g., collision) involving the target vehicle toanalyze and/or reconstruct the accident. Further, in some embodiments,the vehicle tracking system may identify whether the target vehicle isoperating and/or is operated by a driver demonstrating risky and/orunlawful behavior (e.g., speeding) based on data captured by sensorsassociated with the target vehicle, an observing vehicle proximate tothe target vehicle, or a combination thereof. Accordingly, the vehicletracking system may determine information related to a target vehiclewith improved range and/or efficiency. That is, by automaticallydetecting and determining information related to a target vehicle, evenif the target vehicle lacks suitable sensors, the vehicle trackingsystem may improve the range and/or efficiency involved with determiningthe information related to the target vehicle. Additional detailsregarding the vehicle tracking system and various processes performed bythe vehicle tracking system will be described below with reference toFIGS. 1-3.

By way of introduction, FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a vehiclemonitoring system 10 that may observe and/or log information related toa vehicle, in accordance with embodiments described herein. The vehiclemonitoring system 10 may, for example, monitor certain behaviors,locations, and/or characteristics (e.g., a description) associated witha vehicle. The vehicle monitoring system 10 may further trackinformation related to a driver of one or more vehicles. As such, thevehicle monitoring system 10 may include a vehicle tracking system 12, avehicles database 14, a drivers database 16, a sensors database 18, oneor more sensors 19, and a computing device 22. The vehicle trackingsystem 12, in certain embodiments, may be a cloud-based computing systemthat includes a number of computers that may be connected through areal-time communication network, such as the Internet. In oneembodiment, large-scale analysis operations may be distributed over thecomputers that make up the cloud-based computing system. Although thevehicle tracking system 12 is described above as a cloud-based computingsystem, the vehicle tracking system 12 may be any suitable computingsystem or device that is capable of communicating with other devices andprocessing data, in accordance with the techniques described herein.

In one embodiment, the vehicle tracking system 12 may communicativelycouple to the vehicles database 14. The vehicles database 14 may storedata (e.g., information) related to a number of different vehicles(e.g., cars, trucks, motorcycles, and/or the like). Further, thevehicles database 14 may store this data in a vehicle profile 15 foreach vehicle that may include information, such as an identifier, for arespective vehicle. For example, the identifier of the vehicle mayinclude a name and/or an identification number or code associated withthe vehicle. Further, the vehicle profile 15 may include data regardinga license plate number, a license plate state, a make, a model, a year,a color, a history (e.g., accident history), and/or the like of therespective vehicle. The history of the vehicle may include a descriptionof events and/or changes involving the vehicle, such as accidents (e.g.,collisions), damage, and/or repairs involving and/or made to thevehicle. The history may further include a set of dates indicating whenthe events and/or changes occurred.

Further, in some embodiments, the vehicle database 14 may includeincomplete vehicle profiles 15. That is, each vehicle profile 15 mayinclude as much suitable information related to a vehicle that isavailable to the vehicle tracking system 12. For example, a firstvehicle profile 15 may include an identifier, a make, a model, and acolor and may lack additional information related to a respectivevehicle, while a second vehicle profile 15 may include an identifier, alicense plate number, and a history of a respective vehicle. As such,because the vehicle tracking system 12 may include and/or receive moreinformation related to some vehicles than others, each vehicle profile15 may contain a variable amount of information related to a respectivevehicle.

The vehicle tracking system 12 may additionally or alternativelycommunicate with the drivers database 16. In some embodiments, thedrivers database 16 may store data related to a driver (e.g., operator)of a vehicle. Accordingly, the drivers database 16 may store a driverprofile 17 having information regarding the identity of the driver, suchas a name and/or identification number or code, a reference to a vehicleassociated with the driver, and/or a description of the driver for eachdriver. As a driver may operate multiple vehicles, a driver profile 17may include references to multiple vehicles associated with the samedriver. Further, as more than one driver may operate a vehicle, multipledriver profiles 17 may include a reference to the same vehicle. In someembodiments, the description of the driver may include information suchas a driver's license number, a height, a hair color, an age, and/or thelike associated with the driver. As the features of the driver includedin the description of the driver may change (e.g., the driver may growtaller, change hair color, grow older, and/or the like), it should beunderstood that the description of the driver may be an approximatedescription of the driver. Further, as described with reference to thevehicle profiles 15, the driver profiles 17 may include variable amountsof information related to a respective driver according to theinformation available to the vehicle tracking system 12.

Further, the vehicle monitoring system 10 may include one or moresensors 19 that may capture information related to a vehicle and/or adriver, such as the data included in a vehicle profile 15 or a driverprofile 17, respectively. A sensor 19 may include any suitable sensingdevice, such as a speedometer, an odometer, an infrared laser, a sonicsensor (e.g., ultrasonic sensor), a camera, a global positioning system(GPS) sensor, and/or the like. To that end, information captured by asensor 19 may include, for example, a speed, mileage, make, model,color, proximity to an object (e.g., another vehicle), location, and/orthe like associated with a vehicle, as well as a time and/or date thatthe information was captured. The information captured by a sensor 19may further include, for example, an identity and/or descriptionassociated with a driver of a vehicle. Further, the one or more sensors19 may be located within a vehicle and/or exterior to the vehicle, butwithin a certain vicinity (e.g., a radius in which the sensor maycapture information) of the vehicle. For example, a sensor 19 thatcaptures information related to a first vehicle may be included in asecond (e.g., observing) vehicle. In any case, a sensor 19 may obtaininformation related to a vehicle and/or driver and may transmit theinformation to the vehicle tracking system 12 and/or to a database(e.g., sensor database 18).

In some embodiments, the one or more sensors 19 may capture informationrelated to a vehicle and/or driver synchronously or with a certainperiodicity (e.g., once every second, minute, or hour), while in otherembodiments the one or more sensors may additionally or alternativelycapture information asynchronously or in response to a request, whichmay be received from the vehicle tracking system 12, as described below.Further, the sensors 19 may transmit captured information to the vehicletracking system 12 after receiving a request from the vehicle trackingsystem 12, with a certain periodicity, and/or when the captured datameets some criteria, such as when the sensors 19 detect a collisioninvolving a vehicle, a vehicle braking suddenly, and/or a vehiclereaching some speed.

With this in mind, the vehicle monitoring system 10 may include thesensors database 18 that may store data associated with informationobtained from the one or more sensors 19, as described herein. That is,the sensors database 18 may contain information related to a vehicleand/or driver that is captured by a sensor 19. As such, in someembodiments, the sensors database 18 may include information capturedfrom a sensor 19 associated with a reference to one or more drivers, areference to one or more vehicles, or a combination thereof.

While the embodiments herein describe separate databases for thevehicles database 14, the drivers database 16, and the sensors database18, it should be understood by one skilled in the art that embodimentsmay include any suitable number of databases to store the relevantinformation related to the vehicles, the drivers, and/or the sensors. Assuch, fewer or additional databases may be used in the vehiclemonitoring system 10.

To monitor and/or track a vehicle, the vehicle tracking system 12 maygenerate and/or receive suitable data regarding the vehicle, a driver ofthe vehicle, and/or a sensor 19. That is, the vehicle tracking system 12may automatically populate and update the information maintained in thevehicles database 14, the drivers database 16, and/or the sensorsdatabase 18 based on the sensors 19 included in the vehicle trackingsystem 12. As such, the vehicle tracking system 12 may receiveinformation from a sensor 19 and may update one or more databases (e.g.,vehicles database 14, the drivers database 16, and/or the sensorsdatabase 18) accordingly. For example, the vehicle tracking system 12may receive information from a sensor 19 related to a vehicle that isnot included in the vehicles database 14 (e.g., a vehicle profile 15 isnot associated with the vehicle). As such, the vehicle tracking system12 may create a new vehicle profile 15 and may populate the vehicleprofile 15 with any relevant information related to the vehicle that isincluded in the information from the sensor. The vehicle tracking system12 may further update an existing vehicle profile 15, store and/orupdate sensor data in the sensor database, create and/or update a driverprofile 17, and/or the like based on information received from a sensor19.

Additionally or alternatively, the vehicle tracking system 12 mayreceive an input from the computing device 22 to update the vehiclesdatabase 14, the drivers database 16, the sensors database 18, or acombination thereof. That is, the input from the computing device 22 mayprovide information to supplement and/or override information in thevehicles database 14, the drivers database 16, and/or the sensorsdatabase 18 to add, update, or remove vehicle profiles 15 and/or driverprofiles 17. As such, a user or administrator of the vehicle trackingsystem 12 may, for example, use the computing device 22 to create andsend an input to update the vehicles database 14, the drivers database16, and/or the sensors database 18. For example, the user may provide aninput including information related to the new or updated vehicleprofile 15. That is, in some embodiments, a computing device 22 may beused to create and/or update a vehicle profile 15 by providing an inputto the vehicle tracking system 12 indicating these changes. Further,based on changes to the vehicle profile 15 in the vehicles database 14,the vehicle tracking system 12 may update and/or create a new driverprofile 17 and/or update information in the sensors database 18. Assuch, the vehicle tracking system 12 may update and/or populateinformation included in any database (e.g., the vehicles database 14,the drivers database 16, or the sensors database 18) based in part onchanges made to any other database.

The computing device 22 may include any suitable processor-basedcomputing system, such as a desktop computer, a laptop computer, amobile computing device (e.g., smart phone), a tablet computing device,and the like. In any case, the computing device 22 may transmit an inputto the vehicle tracking system 12. Further, in some embodiments, thecomputing device 22 may receive a notification (e.g., alert) from thevehicle tracking system 12 associated with a monitored vehicle (e.g., avehicle with a vehicle profile 15). In such embodiments, the computingdevice 22 may provide an indication that the notification was received.The indication may be a ring tone, a vibration pattern, a visualization,a reminder, a task, an audio message, or the like. In some embodiments,the notification may activate an application or program stored on thecomputing device 22, despite the computing device 22 being in a sleep orlow power mode, to increase the likelihood that a user will take note ofthe notification.

Although the vehicle tracking system 12 is described as sendingnotifications to the computing device 22, in some embodiments, thevehicle tracking system 12 may be a computing device associated with auser of the vehicle tracking system 12. As such, the vehicle trackingsystem 12 may be accessible to the user and may generate visualizationsand alerts to notify the user regarding a monitored vehicle.

To perform some of the actions set forth above, the vehicle trackingsystem 12 may include certain components to facilitate these actions.FIG. 2 is a block diagram of example components within the vehicletracking system 12, in accordance with the embodiments described herein.For example, the vehicle tracking system 12 may include a communicationcomponent 32, a processor 34, a memory 36, a storage 38, input/output(I/O) ports 40, a display 42, and the like. The communication component32 may be a wireless or wired communication component 32 that mayfacilitate communication between, for example, the vehicles database 14,the drivers database 16, the sensors database 18, the one or moresensors 19, the computing device 22, and the like. The processor 34 maybe any type of suitable computer processor or microprocessor capable ofexecuting computer-executable code. The processor 34 may also includemultiple processors that may perform the operations described below.

The memory 36 and the storage 38 may be any suitable articles ofmanufacture that may serve as media to store processor-executable code,data, or the like. These articles of manufacture may representnon-transitory, computer-readable media (e.g., any suitable form ofmemory or storage) that may store the processor-executable code used bythe processor 34 to perform the presently disclosed techniques. Thememory 36 and the storage 38 may also be used to store data, variousother software applications, and the like. For example, the memory 36and the storage 38 may not only store the processor-executable code usedby the processor 34 to perform various techniques described herein butcode for other techniques as well. It should be noted that the term“non-transitory” merely indicates that the media is tangible and not asignal.

The input/output (I/O) ports 40 may be interfaces that may couple toother peripheral components such as input devices (e.g., keyboard,mouse), sensors, input/output (I/O) modules, and the like. The display42 may operate to depict visualizations associated with software orexecutable code being processed by the processor 34. In one embodiment,the display 42 may be a touch display capable of receiving inputs from auser of the vehicle tracking system 12. The display 42 may be anysuitable type of display 42, such as a liquid crystal display (LCD),plasma display, or an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display, forexample. Additionally, in one embodiment, the display 42 may be providedin conjunction with a touch-sensitive mechanism (e.g., a touch screen)that may function as part of a control interface for the vehicletracking system 12.

It should be noted that the components described above with regard tothe vehicle tracking system 12 are exemplary components and the vehicletracking system 12 may include additional or fewer components comparedto those shown. Additionally, it should be noted that the computingdevice 22 may also include similar components as described as part ofthe vehicle tracking system 12.

With the foregoing in mind, FIG. 3 illustrates a flow chart of a method50 for monitoring and/or tracking a vehicle (e.g., a target vehicle), inaccordance with embodiments described herein. More specifically, themethod 50 may be used, for example, to determine a behavior, location,and/or characteristic associated with the vehicle. Although thefollowing description of the method 50 is described in a particularorder, which represents a particular embodiment, it should be noted thatthe method 50 may be performed in any suitable order. Further, certainsteps may be skipped altogether, and additional steps may be included inthe method 50. Moreover, although the following description of themethod 50 is described as being performed by the vehicle tracking system12, it should be noted that the method 50 may be performed by anysuitable computing device. More specifically, in some embodiments, themethod 50 may be implemented by a processor (e.g., processor 34), whichis understood to include one or more processors.

The method 50 may be triggered (e.g., initiated) at block 52 when thevehicle tracking system 12 receives a request for information (e.g., abehavior, location, and/or characteristic) related to a target vehicle.In some embodiments, the vehicle tracking system 12 may automaticallygenerate the request. For example, the vehicle tracking system 12 maygenerate the request in response to an update to any one of thedatabases (e.g., the vehicles database 14, the drivers database 16,and/or the sensors database 18). That is, the vehicle tracking system 12may generate the request in response to receiving information from asensor 19 and/or an input from the computing device 22. In anotherembodiment, the vehicle tracking system 12 may automatically generatethe request with a certain periodicity (e.g., every 1, 8, 12, 24, 48hours, every week, every two weeks, or the like). Further, in someembodiments, the vehicle tracking system 12 may receive the request fromthe computing device 22. That is, a user may request information relatedto a target vehicle via the computing device 22, regardless of anychanges to any of the databases.

Further, to identify the target vehicle, the request may include detailsrelated to a specific vehicle or group of vehicles, such as those that avehicle profile 15 may include. That is, for example, the request mayinclude information such as the make, model, year, identifier, and/orthe like to specify a target vehicle. In some embodiments, the vehiclesdatabase 14 may include information (e.g., a vehicle profile 15) relatedto the target vehicle. In such embodiments, the request may includeinformation (e.g., location information associated with the targetvehicle) mapping directly to the target vehicle. Additionally oralternatively, the request may include information to narrow the targetvehicle to a group of vehicles whose vehicle profiles 15 match some orall of the information related to the target vehicle included in therequest. Further, in some embodiments, the vehicles database 14 may notinclude a vehicle profile 15 associated with the target vehicle. Thatis, the request may include information identifying a target vehiclethat is new to the vehicle tracking system 12.

As a first illustrative example, at block 52, the vehicle trackingsystem 12 may receive a request via the processor 34 or from a user forthe location of a target vehicle that may lack sensors 19 configured tocommunicate with the vehicle tracking system 12 or may lack sensors 19capable of communicating the target vehicle's location to the vehicletracking system. As such, to identify the target vehicle, the user mayprovide, for example, a make, model, color, license plate, and/or anestimate location (e.g., the last known location) of the vehicle. As asecond illustrative example, at block 52, the vehicle tracking system 12may receive a request via the processor 34 or from a user to determinethe involvement (e.g., behavior) of a target vehicle in an accident.That is, the processor 34 or the user may initiate method 50 toreconstruct an accident involving the target vehicle. The vehicletracking system 12 may further receive and/or determine an identifier ofthe target vehicle based on the request. Further, as a thirdillustrative example, at block 52, the vehicle tracking system 12 mayreceive a request via the processor 34 to determine whether a targetvehicle is operating and/or is operated by a driver demonstrating riskyand/or unlawful behavior (e.g., speeding). In the third illustrativeexample, the vehicle tracking system 12 may automatically generate therequest to, for example, monitor the behavior of the target vehicle in acertain proximity of an additional vehicle so that the additionalvehicle may be made aware of the current driving behavior of the targetvehicle. Additionally or alternatively, the processor 34 or a user mayrequest information determining whether the target vehicle habituallydemonstrates unlawful behavior from the vehicle tracking system 12.

Once the method 50 is initiated by a suitable event (e.g., a request forinformation related to a target vehicle), at block 54, the vehicletracking system 12 may retrieve information via the processor 34 relatedto the target vehicle. The process to retrieve the information relatedto the target vehicle may depend in part on the target vehicle itself.That is, for example, if the vehicles database 14 includes a vehicleprofile 15 associated with the target vehicle, the vehicle trackingsystem 12 may retrieve the information related to the target vehicle byretrieving the vehicle profile 15 associated with the target vehiclefrom the vehicles database 14. If the retrieved information isinsufficient to determine a specified characteristic of the vehicle(e.g., the location of the vehicle) or if the vehicle tracking system 12lacks information related to the target vehicle, the vehicle trackingsystem 12 may send a request to one or more sensors 19 to determine theinformation related to the target vehicle. Further, if the targetvehicle is new to the vehicle tracking system 12, the vehicle trackingsystem 12 may retrieve information related to the target vehicle via oneor more sensors 19. Accordingly, the vehicle tracking system 12 may, forexample, send a request to one or more sensors 19 to capture informationrelated to the target vehicle. In such embodiments, the vehicle trackingsystem 12 may create a new vehicle profile 15 associated with the targetvehicle and/or add information related to the target vehicle to thedatabases (e.g., the vehicles database 14, the drivers database 16, thesensors database 18, or a combination thereof). Further, in someembodiments, the target vehicle tracking system 12 may retrieve theinformation related to the target vehicle through a suitable combinationof the techniques described above.

Continuing with the first illustrative example, at block 54, afterreceiving the request from the user to determine the location of thetarget vehicle, the vehicle tracking system 12 may determine whetherinformation related to the target vehicle is included in the vehicletracking system 12 (e.g., whether any information related to the targetvehicle is included in any of the vehicles database 14, the driversdatabase 16, or the sensors database 18). If information related to thetarget vehicle is included, the vehicle tracking system 12 may thendetermine whether the included information is sufficient to determinethe location of the target vehicle. If the included information isinsufficient to determine the location of the vehicle or if the vehicletracking system 12 lacks information related to the target vehicle, thevehicle tracking system 12 may send a request to one or more sensors 19to determine the location of the target vehicle. As such, the request tothe one or more sensors 19 may activate the one or more sensors 19 andmay provide parameters (e.g., the make, model, year, license plate,and/or information provided by the user) to identify the target vehicleso that when a sensor 19 detects the target vehicle, it may communicateinformation, such as the location of the target vehicle to the vehicletracking system 12. In some embodiments, for example, if the targetvehicle lacks suitable sensors 19 to determine its location, thetracking system 12 may utilize an additional vehicle, which may or maynot be proximate to the estimated location of the target vehicle, with asensor 19 that is configured to communicate with the vehicle trackingsystem 12 to locate the target vehicle when the target vehicle is withina proximity of the sensor 19. For example, as the target vehicle drivesnear an additional vehicle with a camera that identifies the targetvehicle, a GPS in the additional vehicle and/or a computing device 22associated with the GPS may communicate the location of the targetvehicle to the vehicle tracking system 12.

Continuing with the second illustrative example, at block 54, thevehicle tracking system 12 may retrieve the vehicle profile 15associated with the target vehicle. The vehicle tracking system 12 maythen retrieve a driver profile 17 containing a reference to the vehicleprofile (e.g., mapping the driver profile 17 to the vehicle profile 15)if the vehicle tracking system 12 includes the driver profile 17.Further, the vehicle tracking system 12 may retrieve sensor data fromthe sensors database 18 containing a reference to the target vehicle.The vehicle tracking system 12 may limit the sensor data retrieved tosensor data collected at a certain time and/or location that theaccident occurred. The sensor data may include information, such aspictures, video captures, vehicle speeds, road conditions, weatherconditions, construction indications, and the like, that one or moresensors 19 near the accident may have captured. In some embodiments,vehicles uninvolved, but present at the scene of the accident may act aswitnesses to the incident via their respective sensors 19. That is, thevehicle tracking system 12 may associate sensor data collected fromsensors 19 included in the uninvolved vehicles to the target vehicle andmay use the sensor data to reconstruct and/or analyze the accident.

Continuing with the third illustrative example, at block 54, to monitorthe current behavior of the target vehicle within a certain proximity ofthe additional vehicle, the vehicle tracking system 12 may send arequest to one or more sensors 19. As such, as described in the firstillustrative example, sensors 19 activated by the request may determineand communicate the behavior of the target vehicle to the vehicletracking system 12. Further, to determine whether the target vehiclerepeatedly demonstrates unlawful, erratic, reckless, or dangerousbehavior, the vehicle tracking system 12 may retrieve a vehicle profile15 associated with the target vehicle and/or information related to thetarget vehicle in any of the databases (e.g., 14, 16, and/or 18) and maydetermine the behavior demonstrated by the target vehicle.

At block 56, the vehicle tracking system 12 may output the retrievedinformation related to the target vehicle. To do so, the vehicletracking system 12 may create notifications (e.g., alerts and/ormessages) based on the retrieved information. In such embodiments, thevehicle tracking system 12 may generate a notification that identifiesthe target vehicle, provides the retrieved information related to thetarget vehicle, provides inferences based on the information related tothe target vehicle, or a combination thereof. The vehicle trackingsystem 12 may then output the notification to the computing device 22.After sending the notification, the vehicle tracking system 12 mayprovide an indication to a user of the computing device 22 that thenotification was received at the computing device 22. The indication maybe a ring tone, a vibration pattern, a visualization, audio message, orthe like.

In an embodiment, a notification may cause the computing device 22 toopen, run, or execute an application. For example, the notification maycause the computing device 22 to display a visualization of thenotification in the form of a text-based window or application that maydisplay content included in the notification to the user. In anembodiment, the user may already have an application related to thenotification open on the computing device 22. In such cases, thenotification may appear within the application (e.g., as a pop-updisplay, as a header, or the like) to display a visualization of thenotification to the user. Additionally or alternatively, thenotification may cause the computing device 22 and/or a playback device(e.g., speakers or headphones) associated with the computing device 22to play an audio message (e.g., an audio file) communicating theretrieved information to the user. As such, the computing device 22 mayprovide a hands-free method (e.g., a method that does not utilize userinteraction) of providing the notification to the user. Further, thevehicle tracking system 12 may send the notification via e-mail, textmessage, application notifications, and/or any other suitable messagingservices platform.

In certain embodiments, the computing device 22 may send a user'sresponse to the notification. That is, the computing device 22 maymonitor and communicate the user's interaction with the notification. Assuch, the computing device 22 may instruct the vehicle tracking system12 to update the requested information related to the target vehicleand/or to request additional information related to the target vehicleand/or an additional vehicle based on an input from the user. That is,the notification may provide input fields that, for example, the usermay use to request additional information related to any number ofvehicles.

Returning to the first illustrative example, at block 56, the vehicletracking system 12 may send a notification to a computing device 22 ofthe user. The notification may include information confirming theidentity of the target vehicle with, for example, a picture and/ordescription and may include the location of the target vehicle in theform of an address, coordinates, and/or a map marking the location ofthe target vehicle. Further, the vehicle tracking system 12 may use theretrieved information from a sensor 19 that received a request from thevehicle tracking system 12, for example, to update and/or addinformation related to the targeted vehicle in the vehicles database 14,the drivers database, the sensors database 18, or a combination thereof.

Returning to the second illustrative example, at block 56, the vehicletracking system 12 may return data related to the target vehicle and theaccident involving the target vehicle to the user via a notification.The notification may aggregate information retrieved from any suitablenumber of sensors 19 and/or databases (e.g., 14, 16, and/or 18) and maypresent the information in a suitable format so that, for example, acause of the accident is clear to the user.

Finally, returning to the third illustrative example, at block 56, thevehicle tracking system 12 may send a notification to a driver of atarget vehicle (e.g., via a computing device 22 associated with thedriver) and/or to the target vehicle (e.g., a computing device 22associated with the target vehicle) to notify them of their unlawfulbehavior. Further, in some embodiments, the vehicle tracking system 12may notify a driver of an additional vehicle and/or the additionalvehicle. For example, the vehicle tracking system 12 may notify theadditional driver and/or vehicle if the additional vehicle is within acertain proximity of the target vehicle in order to make the additionaldriver and/or vehicle aware of the behavior of the target vehicle. Assuch, the additional vehicle may, for example, avoid the target vehicleif the target vehicle is swerving unexpectedly. Further, the vehicletracking system 12 may send a notification to a law enforcement agency(e.g., police station), for example, to alert it of the target vehicle'sbehavior. To that end, the vehicle tracking system 12 may output theinformation related to the target vehicle to any suitable number ofcomputing devices 22 and/or other suitable outputs and may output theinformation to any suitable recipient (e.g., a user of the vehicletracking system 12, a driver of the target vehicle and/or of anadditional vehicle, police, and/or the like) regardless of whether therecipient requested the information.

Although the foregoing description and illustrative examples of themethod 50 are described with relation to determining a location,involvement in an accident, and a behavior of a target vehicle, itshould be understood that the vehicle tracking system 12 may determineany suitable information related to a target vehicle and/or a driveraccording to the method 50. That is, the embodiments described hereinshould not be limited to the examples expressly recited.

While only certain features of disclosed embodiments have beenillustrated and described herein, many modifications and changes willoccur to those skilled in the art. It is, therefore, to be understoodthat the appended claims are intended to cover all such modificationsand changes as fall within the true spirit of the present disclosure.

The techniques presented and claimed herein are referenced and appliedto material objects and concrete examples of a practical nature thatdemonstrably improve the present technical field and, as such, are notabstract, intangible or purely theoretical. Further, if any claimsappended to the end of this specification contain one or more elementsdesignated as “means for [perform]ing [a function] . . . ” or “step for[perform]ing [a function] . . . ”, it is intended that such elements areto be interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f). However, for any claimscontaining elements designated in any other manner, it is intended thatsuch elements are not to be interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f).

What is claimed is:
 1. A system comprising: a vehicle databaseconfigured to store a vehicle profile associated with a target vehicle;one or more processors; and a memory configured to store instructions,wherein the instructions are configured to cause the one or moreprocessors to: receive a request for information related to the targetvehicle; determine that the vehicle profile does not comprise theinformation; cause a sensor of an observing vehicle within a proximityof the target vehicle to determine the information related to the targetvehicle in response to identifying the target vehicle based on thevehicle profile and determining that the vehicle profile does notcomprise the information; and output the information associated with thetarget vehicle to a computing device.
 2. The system of claim 1, whereinthe instructions are configured to cause the one or more processors tostore the information as part of the vehicle profile associated with thetarget vehicle.
 3. The system of claim 1, comprising a sensor databaseconfigured to store sensor information captured by the sensor, whereinthe instructions are configured to cause the one or more processors tocause the sensor of the observing vehicle to determine the informationrelated to the target vehicle in response to determining that the sensorinformation does not store the information.
 4. The system of claim 3,wherein the instructions are configured to cause the one or moreprocessors to receive the information related to the target vehicle fromthe sensor database in response to determining that the sensorinformation stores the information.
 5. A system comprising: one or moreprocessors; a memory configured to store instructions, wherein theinstructions are configured to cause the one or more processors to:receive a request for information related to a target vehicle, whereinthe request comprises stored information related to the target vehicle;cause a sensor of an observing vehicle within a proximity of the targetvehicle to determine the requested information related to the targetvehicle in response to identifying the target vehicle based on thestored information related to the target vehicle; and output therequested information associated with the target vehicle to a computingdevice.
 6. The system of claim 5, wherein the sensor of the observingvehicle comprises a speedometer, a camera, a global positioning system,an ultrasonic sensor, an infrared laser sensor, or any combinationthereof.
 7. The system of claim 5, wherein the requested informationassociated with the target vehicle comprises a location, a behavior of adriver driving the target vehicle, a characteristic of the targetvehicle, or any combination thereof.
 8. The system of claim 5, whereinthe requested information output to the computing device includes anassociation with a traffic event involving the target vehicle and anobject.
 9. The system of claim 8, wherein the requested informationoutput to the computing device comprises a picture, video, speed of thetarget vehicle, road condition, weather condition, constructionindication, or any combination thereof, captured by the sensor of theobserving vehicle at or near the traffic event.
 10. The system of claim5, wherein the requested information output to the computing device isassociated with a behavior of the target vehicle, wherein the observingvehicle comprises the computing device.
 11. The system of claim 5,wherein the computing device is configured to display a visualizationassociated with the requested information, play an audio messageassociated with the requested information, or both.
 12. A method,comprising: receiving, via one or more processors, identificationinformation related to a target vehicle; generating, via the one or moreprocessors, a request for information associated with the target vehicleusing the identification information related to the target vehicle;instructing, via the one or more processors, a sensor of an observingvehicle within a proximity of the target vehicle to determine therequested information related to the target vehicle in response toidentifying the target vehicle based on the identification informationrelated to the target vehicle; and outputting, via the one or moreprocessors, the requested information associated with the target vehicleto a computing device.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein receiving theidentification information comprises receiving, via the one or moreprocessors, a make, model, year, identifier, or any combination thereof,of the target vehicle.
 14. The method of claim 12, wherein receiving theidentification information comprises receiving, via the one or moreprocessors, the identification information from a vehicle database,wherein the vehicle database is configured to store a vehicle profileassociated with the target vehicle, wherein the vehicle profilecomprises the identification information.
 15. The method of claim 14,comprising updating, via the one or more processors, the vehicle profilestored in the vehicle database to include the requested informationassociated with the target vehicle.
 16. The method of claim 12,comprising, in response to determining that a vehicle database does notcomprise the identification information, creating, via the one or moreprocessors, a vehicle profile in the vehicle database.
 17. The method ofclaim 16, wherein creating the vehicle profile comprises including therequested information associated with the target vehicle in the vehicleprofile.
 18. The method of claim 12, wherein generating the request forthe requested information occurs periodically according to apredetermined schedule.
 19. The method of claim 12, comprisingreceiving, via the one or more processors, sensor information from thesensor, wherein receiving the identification information and generatingthe request for the requested information occurs in response toreceiving the sensor information from the sensor.
 20. The method ofclaim 12, comprising receiving, via the one or more processors, an inputfrom the computing device, wherein receiving the identificationinformation and generating the request for the requested informationoccurs in response to receiving the input from the computing device.